Events

As part of Financial Inclusion Week 2024, we hosted a compelling panel discussion on advancing women’s financial inclusion in Bangladesh through digital innovation. This session, organized by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, brought together experts from various sectors to explore collaborative strategies for expanding digital financial services to women consumers in one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile money markets.

Our distinguished speakers included:

• Dr. Leora Klapper, Lead Economist, World Bank – Expert on women’s empowerment through DFS.
• Dr. Zaki Wahhaj, Professor, University of Kent – Expert on women’s empowerment through DFS in Bangladesh, currently working on a WEE-DiFine funded study titled ‘Empowering Poor Urban Women in Bangladesh through Digital Financial Services: Does Wage Payment via Mobile Money translate into Economic Empowerment?’
• Shahana Ferdousi, Additional Director, NFIS Administrative Unit, Bangladesh Bank – Expert on Women’s Financial Inclusion Data (WFID) Dashboard.
• Moinuddin Mohammed Rahgir, Chief Financial Officer, bKash – Offers an industry perspective on innovative strategies for expanding digital financial services to women.
• Dr. Imran Matin, Executive Director, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University – Moderator of the panel discussion.

This panel was part of BIGD’s ongoing WEE-DiFine and WEE-Connect Initiatives, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These initiatives aimed to generate rigorous evidence on the impact of digital financial services and digital connectivity on women’s economic empowerment across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.

The discussion offered practical, scalable solutions for enhancing financial inclusion for women in Bangladesh, with lessons applicable to similar contexts worldwide.

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